Skyrim:Battle for Whiterun (Stormcloaks)

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Head to the Whiterun Military Camp, southwest of Whiterun, and you will notice that the besieging of Whiterun has already begun. Head to where Galmar is briefing the men on the attack and listen in. He will say your destination is the drawbridge that has been raised to keep the attackers out.

Once the rallying of the troops is done, charge in with Galmar and the troops. Don't worry too much about killing all the Imperials, as more spawn. When you reach the first set of wooden barricades is also when you meet the first enemies. Breaking through the barricades is easy. Hit them a few times with a weapon and they break. Your journal will then tell you to lower the drawbridge. Move up the path to the small wooden bridge with the stone walls to your side, head up there, and go up the walkway. You will see two drawbridge levers over the drawbridge. Pull one. The bridge will fall, and the soldiers will run into the city.

Head into the city. Your destination now is Dragonsreach (It may be safer to stay with Galmar and the soldiers). Several barriers block the entrance to the plains district, which are destroyed after 3 blows from any weapon (power attacks make no difference). Upon entering Dragonsreach, three soldiers will charge at you, but they will die easily. Continue up the stairs, where Balgruuf will shout about not letting you take the city without fighting back. Then he, three guards, and his Housecarl, Irileth, will attack you. Kill the soldiers. After the jarl is reduced to 25% health, he will stop the fight and surrender.

Vignar Gray-Mane will approach the jarl and they will have a short conversation. Galmar will stop the conversation after a while, Vignar will walk off after a few more words and Balgruuf will address you for a minute. With Balgruuf stepping down, Vignar takes the throne as the new Jarl of Whiterun. The quest will end there and the next quest, Liberation of Skyrim, will begin.

When you return to Ulfric Stormcloak in Windhelm, he commends you for the victory and rewards you with an enchanted leveled weapon and gives you the title "Ice-Veins".

If Lucia has been adopted, she will be transferred to the Bannered Mare until after the battle is over. This happens because her editor location is there and CWCitizensFlee will pick her up in one of the aliases.

The Bannered Mare will have a barricade across the main entrance and both doors will be expert locked, however if you pick the lock, both Hulda and Saadia will have their normal speech options, welcoming you and are willing to trade.

Honningbrew Meadery is apprentice locked during this battle, however if you pick the lock Sabjorn will be back in charge with both him and Mallus Maccius telling you to get out and treating you as if they don't know you. You are unable to trade with either of them.

You will be unable to enter Jorrvaskr during or after the battle as all the doors require a key.

Unused files suggest Jarl Balgruuf the Greater was intended to flee the battle through a secret passage located behind the throne rather than stay and fight.

After defeating the Jarl and getting him to surrender, the quest pointer may continue to point to him, but no interaction is possible and the quest does not update.

Striking the Jarl and then paying off the bounty may fix this.

The doors to Jorrvaskr and the Underforge will become locked during this mission, and may not unlock after it's completed. Since the doors require an unavailable key, this renders the buildings (as well as the Companions inside) inaccessible to you.

The Stormcloak soldiers might attack your follower(s). It is advised to order any followers to wait outside the gates before entering. ?[verification needed — Needs testing to determine if this is due to a bug or something else]

Receiving the quest update "force Jarl Balgruuf the Greater to surrender" may cause the game to crash upon entering Whiterun or, if the city is entered beforehand, the game may crash immediately upon receiving it.

Killing Whiterun guards instead of Imperial soldiers will incur a bounty, though it will be removed after the battle.

Entering Chillfurrow Farm during this quest may end it prematurely. ?

Upon entering Whiterun, there may be no Imperial soldiers and you may be unable to get Balgruuf to surrender. ?

Ulfric may not give you any orders before the battle, which will prevent the quest from progressing.

Only the quest stages and objectives that are possibly relevant to this radiant version of the quest are shown.

Battle for Whiterun (CWSiegeObj)

Stage

Finishes Quest

Journal Entry

1

Ulfric Stormcloak has ordered me to join Galmar Stone-Fist in taking the city of Whiterun.

8999

9000

We have taken the city of Whiterun. Proving the righteousness of our cause and the fierceness of our warriors.[verification needed — Does this display? Looks like it shouldn't in the CK.]

Unknown

Objective 1000: Get your Orders from Galmar Stone-Fist

Objective 1005: Break through the Enemy Barricade

Objective 1015: Follow Galmar Stone-Fist

Objective 1020: Open the Exterior Gate

Objective 1030: Open the Drawbridge

Objective 1050: Enter Whiterun

Objective 1060: Break through the First Barricade

Objective 1070: Break through the Second Barricade

Objective 1080: Break through the Final Barricade

Objective 1200: Force Jarl Balgruuf the Greater to surrender

Objective 1210: Accept Jarl Balgruuf the Greater's surrender

The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 9999.

Notes

Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.

Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.

Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.

If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.

On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage CWSiegeObj stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest CWSiegeObj.